GENERAL BOTHA DEAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17251, 29 August 1919, Page 7

GENERAL BOTHA DEAD.

SUCCUMBS TO INFLUENZA. LAST DAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA. LOSS TO THE EMPIRE. By Telegraph— Press Association—Copyright. (Received 10 p.m.) Banter. CAPETOWN. Aug. 28. General Louis Botha died at midnight from influenza. SOLDIER AND STATESMAN. HIS WORK FOR SOUTH AFRICA. It is lea* than 20 years since Louis > Botha set out from his farm to join th© j Boer commando under his old friend, | Lucas Meyer. He was then a sturdy and \ prosperous young farmer of the Transvaal. Born on September 27, 1862, at Grey- I town, Natal, he came of French Huguenot' stock. The Bothas came to ihti Cape about the time other Huguenot families had crossed the Atlantic to America. i Each generation made its "trek," just as in America the pioneers moved west- ! ward by stages, and in the 'eighties of I the last century Botha was opening up a ; new country in the Transvaal. In 1897 ' he was a member of the Volksraad, and' was raising the voice of moderation in : opposition to President Kruger, who was urging war with Great Britain. When; Kruger's counsels prevailed, and hia j country was. committed to war, in 1899, Botha was among the first to take up arms. He was then 3? years of age. At first _he served under Lucas Meyer in Northern Natal, but soon rose to" higher commands. He commanded the Boers at the battles of Coleuso and Spion Kop, and these victories earned him so great a reputation that, on the death of Joubert, Botha was made Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal Boers. After the fall of ■ Pretoria reorganised the Boer resistance . with a view to prolonged guerilla war- \ fare. Th« success of his measures was shown in the steady resistance offered bv the Boers to the very close of the three- | dears' war. Botha's brilliant defensive operations gained the admiration of European military experts, though his only previous military training had been received years before in campaigns against the Zulus. Kficoaciliattoa With Britain. In the peace negotiations of 1802 he was the chief representative of his countrymen, and afterwards he visited Europe," with de Wet and de la Rey, in order to raise funds to enable the Boers to restore their farms. Botha's own valuable farm had been destroyed, but it was with no bitterness of spirit t mt he set about the restoration of his family's fortunes, and the rebuilding of his country. .His sisters had married Englishmen, and among those who fought against him for three years were his own nephews. He himself had always been well disposed towards the British rule. He now saw the possibilities of growth under the British system of dominion self-government. Looking >nto the future, ha saw a great South African population working the mines and the farms, and prospering as it. had never prospered under the rule of Kruger and Stcyn. By the time the Transvaal was ready to oegin the experiment of selfgovernment, in 1907 it had in Botha a leader, respected alike by English and Dutch, who could be counted on to rallyall elements to the support of the new State. He became the first Premier of Transvaal, and his co-operation with Lord Selbourne laid the foundation of the Union of South Africa, of which he became the first Prime Minister in 1910. His patience and his statesmanship were immediately put to a severe test. The new Government had to face industrial disturbances that threatened its existenceStrikes were declared by the miners on the Rand, and a general strike was threatened on the railways. Syndicalism was then being preached thioaghout the world by Labour extremists. Botha's measures were of the moat drastic severity, bat they succeeded. Ten of the leaders who had fomented trouble among the railwaymen were deported to England, a general strike was stopped, and syndicalism in South Africa was crushed. Conquest of South-west Africa. Bat all the earlier difficulties of administration seemed light as compared with the perils with which South Africa was faced on the outbreak of the great -jgrar. The Union Government had agreed to the removal of the British troops and to 'undertake its own defence. It had further premised to invade German South-west Africa on behalf of the Imperial Government, whan it found itself confronted with active rebellion within its own borders. A false move by Botha at this crisis would have been fatal. With characteristic wariness he tried conciliation on the one hand,, while strengthening his military preparations on the other. But Beyers, the renegade commandant-general of the Union forces, only used the interval to fan the flame of rebellion, and when De Wet openly joined him there was no hope of reconciliation. Th;» ensuing campaign was a swift and overwhelming triumph for Botha. De Wet was speedily rounded up, Beyers was killed crossing a river, and Maritz fled into German territory with his followers, aad in three months the rising was suppressed. Botha then entered upon his task of driving the Germans out of South-west Africa, a task which he accomplished with extraordinary completeness and rapidity. He recruited an army of 50,000, half British and half Dutch, entered German territory at three points, crossed the deserts by forced marches, his own division marching 190 miles in five days, surprised and confused the Germans by the swiftness of his movements, and at last surrounded them and compelled their surrender to a force smaller than their own. The campaign won the admiration of the whole Empire. The people of New /.i-aland expressed their gratitude for and . appreciation of Botha's services by the presentation of an address and a sword of honour, subscribed for by shilling contributions. Gieat Heart and Simple Humanity. After the armistice Botha, accompanied bv General Smuw, attended the Peace Conference as representative of the Union of South Africa. He had only recently returned to South Africa to face a political situation full of difficulties. He had returned, he said, with but one object, to use -ill his powers to establish larger' co-operation between two ra=es .iii.l t'> strengthen and maintain the Conhlitution of South Africa. The life and character of Botha has thus been .summed up by one who knew him well.—"All his life General Bouha' subordinated personal inclination to public duty. A passionate lover of peace, yet j a great soldier ; a simple farmer, chained , to the wheel of politics; bred on the veldt, only to be immured in an office ; Mi-): ' tricks Fate played him. Yet he mastered the distasteful part for which h* Mas cast. The blend of deliberate thought with quick decision, the firm will, the judgment that seldom errs, the >«:de knowledge of men—these are charac-i-risti.* f,,m:;ion to the great soldier and I to the statesman, and General Botha had then, all : but he 1 ad, too, a ready vigour in the rough-and-tumble of political dehat-, and a grip of the practice of government which most have been slowly and painfullv acquired. The charm of his personality and conversation lay less in !he K « qualities than in a great heart and pimple humanity."